1. Technical Field
This invention relates to crayons and, more particularly, to triangular shaped crayons and associated means for storage.
2. Prior Art
Various well known writing instruments have found common use and appeal. Examples include conventional hexagon cross-sectional pencils shaped to reduce unintended rolling and slippage, and round cross-sectional pens having polymeric slip reducing materials for the shells thereof and having cap clips for reducing rolling and for attaching to pockets. Generally, these designs have not been as ergonomically well designed for prolonged periods of use based on the way that such pencils and pens are conventionally held during extended writing periods. Additionally, many of these prior pens have a tendency to roll on desk tops due to their round shape.
At present, crayon users only utilize 50% of a crayon due to breakage or difficulty in handling the crayon after it has been used for a short period of time. This makes the use of crayons uneconomical since most of the crayon normally  is not used. Furthermore, a mess is created whenever a crayon is accidentally stepped on after rolling on to the floor. Inasmuch as crayons are so widely used by people of all ages, it is highly desirable to improve the structure of the body of the crayon so that it can be more readily held in an untiring manner by the fingers of the hand of the user.
Prior attempts to improve the ergonomic designs of such writing utensils have for example lead to the use of various scooped portions for receiving the index finger or have lead to non-uniform curvatures. For pencils and crayons, the bodies of which are consumed during use, the use of a non-uniform shape would undesirably result in frequently changing grip configurations following sharpening. Also, various ergonomic pencil configurations would not be suitable for being sharpened in conventional pencil sharpeners. At present, the prior art is crowded with attempts to overcome such shortcomings.
The non-uniform design of some of these designs could result in inefficient packaging; some of the uniform designs do not provide for ease in picking up the writing utensil from a resting position; and some of the spiral designs are too tightly wound to provide for comfortable long term writing.
Accordingly, a need remains for an improved design for crayons and means to maintain the integrity of such a design. The present invention satisfies such a need by providing a triangular shaped crayon. Additionally, a carrying case including an adapted sharpening mechanism is provided for storage purposes. The improved shape of the present invention allows children of all ages to better grip the crayon and therefore improve drawing ability.